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Mobile network provider giffgaff, which is owned by Telefónica and uses O2’s associated virtual operator (MVNO) platform, has recently started connecting the first customers to their new trial of a 500Mbps home broadband product – using nexfibre and Virgin Media’s 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) networks.
Just to recap. The trial was first confirmed back in mid-April 2025 (here), which meant that giffgaff would become the first retail provider after Virgin Media to fully harness nexfibre’s new wholesale FTTP network – currently available to over 2 million UK premises. Admittedly, this wasn’t all that surprising, not least because Telefónica is also one of the co-parents behind Virgin Media and nexfibre.
Since then, there have of course been some big developments that impacted nexfibre’s FTTP build strategy (here and here), but this has not stopped giffgaff’s trial. The trial itself is now in the process of connecting “up to 500 trialists” to the new service (not counting the tiny number of closed trialists that came before), which will run for 12-months at a temporarily discounted (heavily) price of £10 per month for a speed of 500Mbps.
According to feedback from the first customers to be connected to this wider open access trial (ISPr forum examples), the package they’ve received appears to assign a proper IP (not CGNAT address sharing), delivers symmetric speeds and some of the exterior kit (pictured – top) appears to retain Virgin Media’s branding. But there’s no IPv6 yet (no big surprise for Virgin) and the peering/routing arrangements seem to follow Virgin Media’s existing approach.
In terms of the internal kit, most customers seem to be receiving an Optical Network Terminal (ONT / ONU) from Arcadyan Technology (PB6802B-LG) and one of Amazon’s Eero 6+ routers (UI features giffgaff’s branding). But there have been some mixed messages on whether giffgaff will allow customers to use a third-party router, although it looks like it may be possible.
Finally, the initial service speeds appear to be delivering better than the headline rate of 500Mbps, but that’s hardly surprising for an early trial and Virgin Media has a long history of setting faster profile than advertised rates. Naturally, faster packages and different pricing will surface for the commercial launch, but we don’t yet know when that will occur or what those packages will look like.